Offsite Tape Storage Beats Local Hard Drive Storage

Did you know that you have a 1 in 4 chance of losing all of your pictures, music, spreadsheets, reports, programs, and everything electronically valuable due to a natural disaster or an evil virus programmer? Not only that, almost 50% of businesses that lose their data go out of business permanently, report industry analysts. You have a variety of choices for data backup, but they don’t all provide the same amount of data safety.

CDs and DVDs are probably the most common way to back up files, but they don’t offer the kind of security that you might think they offer. Often data copies just fine to a CD or DVD, but when it’s time to recover the data, for various technical or mechanical reasons, it won’t recover when you need it the most. And if you forget or fail to put the disk in the computer and perform the manual backup, then hundreds of hours of work and files will be vulnerable to loss. In addition, your files will be compromised if they are stolen because CD and DVD backups usually don’t involve data encryption.

Another way to store your computer’s data is to copy everything to an internal or external hard drive, or a tape backup system. You should have success with these backup devices if they have not been stolen, corrupted, or damaged in the same disaster that caused your original files to be stolen, corrupted, or damaged. In addition, research shows that tape backup fails to recover data as much as 50% of the time.

The most effective way to ensure regular and secure file recovery is by using the services of an off site data backup company. Offsite data storage and recovery is a rather effortless procedure:

Local Software Installation

First, you will need to install a small program to interface with the offsite data storage server. Setup of the program is usually very simple and takes about half an hour.

Initial Backup of Entire System

Second, you’ll need to have at least a connection as fast as a DSL or cable modem. Third, try to schedule your first full backup during an opportune time. All reputable offsite data backup providers store your data in server “vaults” second in safety only to that of the FBI and CIA, so don’t worry about that!

Web Management System

Finally, from almost any web connection anywhere in the world, you should be able to schedule regular online backups, verify the safety of your backed up files and retrieve them on demand, if a web interface is offered. You will probably also receive a unique encryption code known only to you for safe access to your files.

I’ll end this report with a wise maxim: don’t worry about data loss, worry about not having a recovery strategy. To learn more about data recovery options to secure your business, visit Data Backup Solutions.